History Music / War

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1811604936_u2_war_answer_3_xlarge_2906.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''And we can break through, though torn in two, we can be one.'']]

''War'' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the civil war in Northern Ireland]]. It's widely regarded as their first classic album. The album was listed at #223 in ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='=]s [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]].

Not to be confused with the band of the same name ("Low Rider").

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!! Tracklist:

[[AC: Side One]]

# "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (4:38)
# "Seconds" (3:09)
# "New Year's Day" (5:38)
# "Like A Song..." (4:48)
# "Drowning Man" (4:12)

[[AC: Side Two]]

# "The Refugee" (3:40)
# "Two Hearts Beat As One" (4:00)
# "Red Light" (3:46)
# "Surrender" (5:34)
# "40" (2:36)

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!!Principal Members:

* Bono - lead vocals, guitar
* Adam Clayton - bass
* The Edge - guitar, backing and lead vocals, piano, bass
* Larry Mullen Jr. - drums

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!! New Year's Tropes:

* AlbumTitleDrop: While the album's title is fitting, the word is only mentioned in a line in "The Refugee" (the plural form, "wars," is heard in "New Year's Day").
* ApatheticCitizens: "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"
--> ''And it's true we are immune''
--> ''When fact is fiction and TV reality''
--> ''And today the millions die''
--> ''We eat and drink while tomorrow they die!''
* ArcWords and BookEnds: Both the anti violence/war songs "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "40" ask the question:
--> ''How long must we sing this song?''
* AsTheGoodBookSays: "40" has lyrics based on Psalm 40 of the Bible.
--> ''I waited patiently for the Lord''
--> ''He inclined and heard my cry''
--> ''He brought me up out of the pit''
--> ''Out of the miry clay''
** "Drowning Man" quotes from [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+40:31 Isaiah 40:31]].
* AtomicHate: "Seconds".
--> ''Push the button and pull the plug''
--> ''Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh''
--> ''Fall, rise and...Fall, rise and...''
--> ''And they're doing the atomic bomb''
--> ''Do they know where the dance comes from?''
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: "Two Hearts Beat As One" attacks this mindset.
--> ''I don't know''
--> ''I don't know which side I'm on''
--> ''I don't know my right from left''
--> ''Or my right from wrong''
--> ''Say I'm a fool''
--> ''You say I'm not for you''
--> ''But if I'm a fool for you''
--> ''Oh, that's something''
--> ''(...) I don't know''
--> ''How to say what's got to be said''
--> ''I don't know if it's black or white''
--> ''There's others see it red''
--> ''I don't get the answers right''
--> ''I'll leave that to you''
** "Like A Song..." attacks this even more pointedly (see the WarIsHell quote below).
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: "Surrender"
--> ''Sadie said she couldn't work out''
--> ''What it was all about''
--> ''And so she let go''
--> ''Now Sadie's on the street''
--> ''And the people she meets you know''
--> ''She tried to be a good girl and a good wife''
--> ''Raise a good family''
--> ''Lead a good life''
--> ''It's not good enough''
--> ''She got herself up on the 48th floor''
--> ''Gotta find out''
--> ''Find out what she's living for''
* HeavyMeta: "Like A Song"
--> ''Like a song I have to sing''
--> ''I sing it for you''
* NewSoundAlbum: Compared to their earlier albums this record way more political and confrontational.
* NonAppearingTitle: "Drowning Man" and "40" (the latter being the number of the psalm it was based on).
* OneManSong: "Drowning Man".
* OneWordTitle: "War", but also the songs "Seconds" and "Surrender".
* PepTalkSong: "New Year's Day", where the arrival of a new year is seen as a way to "begin again". "Drowning Man" also has an upbeat message
--> ''Take my hand''
--> ''You know I'll be there''
--> ''If you can''
--> ''I'll cross the sky for your love''
--> ''Give you what I hold dear''
* ThePowerOfLove: "Two Hearts Beat As One" and "Red Light".
** Also "Drowning Man":
-->The storms will pass
-->It won't be long now
-->The storms will pass
-->But my love lasts forever
* ProtestSong: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" aimed at UsefulNotes/TheTroubles in Northern Ireland, directly referencing the bloodbath of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot dead by British soldiers. "New Year's Day" was inspired by the Polish solidarity movement which came into blossom in 1980 and provided a stance against the communist government.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
--> ''And it's true we are immune''
--> ''When fact is fiction and TV reality''
* RefrainFromAssuming: If you only know it from the radio, you can be forgiven for assuming that "New Year's Day" is called "I Will Be With You Again."
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: This album directly references the civil war and religious wars that have divided Northern Ireland for decades. This was a very mature and commercially risky subject to tackle for a rock band, but U2 actually managed to get people talking about the subject. Yet, as Bono said himself on their LiveAlbum "Under A Blood Red Sky", before playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
--> ''There's been a lot of talk about this next song, [[WhamLine maybe too much talk]].''
* ShoutOut: "Seconds" contains a clip from the 1982 documentary "Soldier Girls".
* SpecialGuest: Kid Creole and the Coconuts, best known for "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy", performed backing vocals on three of the tracks.
* StepUpToTheMicrophone: The Edge sings the first two stanzas of "Seconds".
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: "Seconds", which deals with the fact that terrorism can strike anywhere at any time and anyone can die.
--> ''Takes a second to say goodbye\\
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh\\
It takes a second to say goodbye\\
Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh, say bye bye\\
Where you going to now?''
* ThousandYardStare: The child on the album cover, who consequently was the brother of a friend of Bono.
* TimeMarchesOn: "Seconds" mentions the USSR, which [[TheGreatPoliticsMessup dissolved in 1991]].
* TitleOnlyChorus: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Surrender" and "Two Hearts Beat as One."
* WarIsHell: A huge theme
** "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
--> ''And the battle's just begun''
--> ''There's many lost, but tell me who was won?''
--> ''The trench is dug within our hearts''
--> ''And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart!''
** "The Refugee""
--> ''Her papa go to war''
--> ''He gonna fight''
--> ''But he don't know what for?''
** "Like A Song"
--> ''And we love to wear a badge, a uniform''
--> ''And we love to fly a flag''
--> ''But I won't...let others live in hell''
--> ''As we divide against each other''
--> ''And we fight amongst ourselves''
--> ''Too set in our ways to try to rearrange''
--> ''Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song''

----
''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''
----

''War'' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the civil war in Northern Ireland]]. It's widely regarded as their first classic album. The album was listed at nr. #223 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

'''''War''''' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the civil war in Northern Ireland]]. It's widely regarded as their first classic album. The album was listed at nr. #223 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

'''''War''''' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to the civil war in Northern Ireland. It's widely regarded as their first classic album. The album was listed at nr. #223 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].

* TitleOnlyChorus: "Surrender" and "Two Hearts Beat as One."

* TitleOnlyChorus: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Surrender" and "Two Hearts Beat as One."

* TitleOnlyChorus: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Two Hearts Beat as One."

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album cover is in black and white.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: This album directly references the civil war and religious wars that have divided Northern Ireland for decades. This was a very mature and commercially risky subject to tackle for a rock band, but U2 actually managed to get people talking about the subject. Yet, as Bono said himself on their LiveAlbum "Under A Blood Red Sky", before playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

* TimeMarchesOn: "Seconds" mentions the USSR, which has dissolved since 1991.

'''''War''''' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to the civil war in Northern Ireland. It's widely regarded as their first classic album.

[[AC:Side One]]
# "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - (4:38)
# "Seconds" - (3:09)
# "New Year's Day" - (5:38)
# "Like A Song..." - (4:48)
# "Drowning Man" - (4:12)

[[AC:Side Two]]
# "The Refugee" - (3:40)
# "Two Hearts Beat As One" - (4:00)
# "Red Light" - (3:46)
# "Surrender" - (5:34)
# "40" - (2:36)

[[caption-width-right:350:''War''.]]

* OneWordTitle: "War".
* ThePowerOfLove: "Two Hearts Beat As One".
* ProtestSong: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" aimed at The Troubles in Northern Ireland, directly referencing the bloodbath of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot dead by British soldiers. "New Year's Day" was inspired by the Polish solidarity movement which came into blossom in 1980 and provided a stance against the communist government.

* SpecialGuest: Kid Creole and the Coconuts performed backing vocals on three of the tracks.

* WarIsHell: A huge theme, especially in "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''

''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''
''How long, do we sing this song...?''

* OneManSong: "Drowning Man".

'''War''' is the third studio album by Music/{{U2}}, released in 1983. At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs, including the hits "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" were very political and directly referred to the civil war in Northern Ireland. It's widely regarded as their first classic album.

!!Tracklist

# "Like a Song..." - (4:48)

# "Two Hearts Beat as One" - (4:00)

!!

''How long, do we sing this song...?''

* ProtestSong and RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" aimed at The Troubles in Northern Ireland, directly referencing the bloodbath of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot dead by British soldiers. "New Year's Day" was inspired by the Polish solidarity movement which came into blossom in 1980 and provided a stance against the communist government.

* WarIsHell: A huge theme, especially in "Sunday Blood Sunday".

* NuclearTerror: "Seconds".